Month: May 2015

A new music event is taking place tonight, Monday, May 4th, as the Al Anderson Jazz Festival will take place at the Ross Capshaw Auditorium at Coronado High School, located at 100 Champions Place. The festival will be in support of the Al Anderson Music Scholarship Fund, which was established to honor Anderson, who taught for many years in El Paso at both Bowie and Austin High Schools.

Al first came to El Paso as a member of the Army band assigned to Fort Bliss. When he left the service he settled in El Paso. He later taught at Texas Western College before moving to the public schools, where he made a career of teaching young musicians. He was a skilled pianist and a prolific arranger, and wrote for groups at both the collegiate and high school levels in both jazz and concert band idioms.

The festival will feature jazz bands from Austin, Coronado, Franklin, and Jefferson High Schools as well as the jazz band from Lincoln Middle School. There is a $5 admission charge, which will go to support the scholarship fund. The concert will start at 6:00 Monday evening.

The scholarship is intended for students from the El Paso Independent School District and is supported by the El Paso Community Foundation. The concert was made possible with the help and support of the El Paso ISD Fine Arts Department.